finicky
by wearethewitches
Summary: wherein, Petunia Evans marries someone else and time ripples in answer.


When Petunia Evans was seventeen, she went to an evening party and met Vernon Dursley over iced whisky and chardonnay. In one universe, she chats with him for a long while and receives both his phone number and address, to send letters to. In another universe, she meets him and immediately excuses herself to the powder room, trying to tamp down the rise of thoughts brought about by someone so _normal_.

Lily is a witch. _My sister is a witch. I want magic. I want magic too_ , she thinks, squeezing her eyes shut and sinking down into a well of anger, resentment and sadness. The mirror cracks in a thousand different directions and Petunia screams as it drops from the wall, feeling more drained than she ever has in her entire life. She drops to the ground and the door to the room slams open, a tall, gorgeous young man with dark hair and a thick eyebrows jutting over even darker eyes steps in.

"What's happening? Are you alright?" He comes over to her, crouching down in front of her and looking at her in concern. Petunia meets his eyes and any last possibility that she might follow the script and become Petunia Dursley is erased.

"I'm- I'm fine. The- the mirror, it shattered!"

"I can see that," he replies, before helping her to her feet quietly, delicate hands marred with tiny scrapes and scars at odds with his dashing pinstripe suit and tie. "What's your name?"

"…Evans. Petunia Evans. Who are you?"

"What a coincidence," the man grins, "I'm Arthur. Arthur Evans-Onishi."

Arthur and Petunia leave the bathroom, alerting one of the butlers that one of the mirrors has shattered in a freak accident – which, to their luck, has coincided with a fight directly below them – and Petunia sticks by him, feeling a little safer around him. Her friends eye her from afar, not wanting to come near him and Petunia can see why, in retrospect. Arthur is clearly not fully British and knowing his last names causes Petunia to think he's at least only half English. In another universe, Petunia would have only seen him briefly, out of the corner of her eye and watched later with the rest of the party as the police carted him off in a van for attempting to lift someone's pearl necklace.

But this is not that universe and Arthur does not fail in stealing the necklace, not when he has Petunia to distract from his rather 'foreign' looks.

Much like what Petunia and Vernon would have done, Petunia and Arthur exchange contact details. Arthur's job is freelance, he says and Petunia calls him an _entrepreneur_ in front of her friends and family. When Lily questions how they met, her happiness at Petunia meeting someone causes the flowers in their mothers window-box to bloom and for once Petunia doesn't mind, even though a bitter part of her feels like Lily's stealing attention, _again_. Their mother is quick to pounce on Lily for it too – " _I thought Hogwarts was supposed to teach you control? That isn't control, Lily Anne Evans!_ "

Arthur himself visits relatively often in person, not settling for letters. He always smiles when he sees her and when he finally meets Lily, the summer after she turns seventeen, Petunia tells him, almost tearful, knowing that he would have to leave her life, forget she ever existed. But as Lily twirls her wand expertly in her wrist, sitting at their kitchen table, Arthur's eyes widen and he puts his hands up.

"I'm a squib! I'm a squib! Don't obliviate me!"

Petunia does cry at that, losing her composure and letting her be comforted by the two most important people in her life. It doesn't make any difference, however, as Arthur questions their safety due to the Wizarding War and Lily says she's fighting, already a member of Albus Dumbledore's Order, the Order of the Phoenix, a Grey-aligned group of witches and wizards dedicated to defeating Lord Voldemort and imprisoning the most Dark of magical persons.

On the thirty-first of July, in nineteen eighty, a year after her marriage to James Potter and two years after Petunia's to Arthur, Lily has a son. On the first of November, Petunia finds him on her townhouse doorstep, wrapped in a blanket and spelled asleep until she picks him up. The only reason she knows that is because of the letter Albus Dumbledore left with her nephew, explaining the events of the previous night.

"Lily's dead," is her brilliant conversation-starter, when Arthur returns home after a two week job in Taiwan. Harry sits on her lap and Petunia is all but brain-dead, so many terrible thoughts revolving around her head. Lily's last letter to her rests in her pocket, dated October eighth. Harry would have had a sister by springtime. _Lily's dead now. James too and his sister as well._

Arthur gallantly stays home with her those first few months, only taking jobs that would take the evening. Petunia doesn't care that those jobs involve breaking into jewellery stores and the homes of the rich and well-off in London. Petunia doesn't care if Arthur's a thief, a crook or even a damned pastry chef. Her sister is dead and her nephew is in her custody, now.

 _I have to take care of him,_ Petunia shuts her eyes, squeezing them shut, curling up in Arthur's arms. _I have to take care of him. I'm not going to lose him too._

Arthur's father dies a little after the New Year, his mother coming to live with them shortly. Yuko is a diplomat and she speaks perfect English, but Petunia doesn't hear her speak anything but Japanese for two years, by which time she's fluent in what is now her third language – her own mother was Irish and she never let Lily or Petunia forget their heritage. Harry grows up under her care and when he calls her mum, Petunia thinks of Lily and feels numb as her sisters face swims in front of her. _What would she have wanted? What would she have wanted for her son?_

Arthur is Harry's daddy, both of them make that very clear to her. Arthur is her husband and he is helping her raise her nephew – but Harry is his son. Yuko calls Harry her grandson and Harry calls her nana. Petunia is the one that has trouble with it and it's only when she – finally – becomes pregnant that she accepts it all.

"Mummy, am I having a brother or sister?" Harry questions. It seals the deal for Petunia and Harry is the first after Arthur and herself to hold Rosa Lily Evans-Onishi when she's born on the five year anniversary of Lily and James' deaths.

The next year, when Harry stops Rosa from falling down the stairs, hands reaching out to hold her in place, face half a foot from touching carpet – " _I'm using the Force!_ " – Yuko whips out her wand and levitates her granddaughter into her arms. It's proof enough to her that Harry is a wizard and despite how Petunia loves him, she can't stand to watch her mother-in-law teaching him sacred runes of the Onishi family and magical theory, for when he would go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"He should go to Mahoutokoro," Yuko grumbles at New Year. Petunia sees Arthur stiffen and later questions him.

Mahoutokoro turns out to be the Japanese magical academy. Boarding begins at eleven, but children begin at age seven, commuting every day. Harry, overhearing their conversation much by accident, bugs Petunia for weeks until she finally has a long, long talk with Arthur, which sees them moving to Japan with Harry only missing the first induction day of four. He wears the pale pink robe with pride, cheerful as it gradually turns a sparkling yellow – not quite gold, but near enough in shade that his teachers aren't worried. Petunia only knows the basics of it all, but Arthur is well-enough informed. His robe would grow with him, going from pale, cherry-blossom pink to gold, based on his grades – but if it turned white, it is proof that Harry has dabbled in dark magic or broken the Statue of Secrecy.

Arthur makes _absolutely sure_ that their family is registered as those who know of magic.

"It is the greatest of shames for your robe to turn white, my love, a shame that I would never want on any I called family," he squeezes her hand and kisses her on the cheek before signing the final paper.

Yuko takes great pains to convert Petunia to the Japanese lifestyle during their time in her home country. When they return to Britain in the early summer of nineteen ninety-one, the old woman dies, leaving Petunia the Onishi Grimoire, a great book that Petunia cannot open or even touch without a layer of fabric between her skin and the binding – a great show of trust from the woman who wouldn't even tell Petunia her original family name.

Rosa can touch the book. So can Harry. Arthur won't go near it, for fear of _raigeki_ – or in other words, an electric shock. Petunia, who feels the same sensation when her hand slips, remembers the exploding mirror and her thoughts of _I want magic, I want magic too_ and pretends she didn't.

Harry's Hogwarts letter comes by owl, a not unfamiliar event to Petunia or Arthur. Harry jumps up and down, squealing alongside Rosa, before opening it and reading it aloud for them to hear.

" _Dear Mr Potter, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on the first of September. We await your owl by no later than the thirty-first of July. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall._ " Harry waves the letter in the air, grinning wide. "I'm going to Hogwarts!"

It's the same letter that Lily had received, Petunia knows, feeling numb and light-headed. The next thing she knows, a paramedic is leaning over her, waking her up and asking her questions. She goes in the ambulance, hands shaking as guilt floods her. Harry and Rosa are terrified and Arthur stays home with them as she goes to hospital, getting a full work-up and kept overnight for three days with a concussion.

"I'm pregnant again," she tells Arthur when she returns home, after a nice dinner and a tearful reunion with her children. Harry still worries over her but Rosa bounces back to normal with ease.

The trip to Diagon Alley, is in one word: disastrous.

The witches and wizards crowd Harry, trying to shake his hand and pat him on the back, 'welcoming him back to the wizarding world'. In Japan, he isn't treated like this. There are enough famous muggles in Japan that the magicals feel a certain amount of disgust at fawning over so-called 'celebrities'. Petunia is proud to say she's picked that mannerism up in her time there, to the horror of the friends she has in London.

"Get _away_ from us!" Arthur shouts, fury audible. Rosa is crying and both she and Harry are squeezed between Arthur and Petunia, shielded from the horrors. "Animals! You're terrifying him!"

Luckily, red-robed witches come to their rescue, ordering the crowd back, giving them some space. One of the witches comes forwards, strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a no-nonsense braid.

"Auror Lightweave, apologies, sir, madam, Mr Potter. Would you like an escort through the rest of Diagon Alley?"

"Yes, if you would," Arthur nods sharply, straightening the collar of his robe. Petunia quickly does the same for Rosa and Harry, wiping Rosa's face with a handkerchief before lifting her youngest up onto her hip. Arthur looks to them, speaking in fast-paced Japanese. " _Are you alright? Are the children hurt?_ "

" _No,_ " Petunia shakes her head before looking to Auror Lightweave, sniffing. "Is it commonplace for the wizarding public to act like rabid dogs?"

"Only when it concerns their heroes and Dark Lords, madam," Lightweave replies, before calling over two of her companions. "Avery, Carter, civilian detail for-" Lightweave looks to Petunia and Arthur,

"Onishi," Petunia puts in before Arthur can say anything.

"-Onishi and Potter." The two other witches come over, Lightweave ordering them sharply. "Make sure no-one harasses these witches and wizards while they're within the alley."

Petunia has to say, the Aurors do their job well, but not well enough to make up for the earlier disaster, which weighs on them the entire day as they're watched from afar. Petunia even sees some people who look like reporters taking pictures. Her day is only made worse with the visit to Gringotts and being forced to arrange a time in which to bring Harry to a meeting with the Potter associate bankers, to talk over the previously frozen accounts and assets of Lily and James, before their deaths.

"Only Mr Potter's trust vault has been available since the deaths of the late Lord and Lady Potter," the goblin states, "and as you are not in possession of Mr Potter's key, it will be put under lockdown and assessed. A letter will be sent within eight working days regarding the contents and any withdrawals since October thirty-first, nineteen eighty-one."

The trip to Diagon Alley is, in one word: disastrous.

"Will it be like that when I go to Hogwarts?" Petunia hears Harry question Arthur one night, when they're watching a rerun of _Doctor Who_. "I'm still feeling shaky."

Petunia listens as Arthur comforts him, hand resting on her slowly-swelling stomach. Due around Christmastime, Harry might or might not be there for the birth of his newest sibling. _Rosa isn't going to Mahoutokoro next year_ , Petunia decides finally. _Arthur leaves to go rob banks all around the world every couple of weeks. I won't be left alone with a new baby, I won't._

The summer trickles onwards, but September first comes all too soon – and Harry goes to Hogwarts.


End file.
